The present invention generally relates to exercise methods and apparatus and, more specifically, to exercise methods and apparatus for simulating stand-up paddleboarding.
Stand-up paddle boarding is an emerging global sport. The sport benefits athletes with a strong workout of the core. Unlike surfing, stand-up paddle boarding is very easy to learn and is growing in popularity. Beginners usually can become very comfortable paddle boarding after only brief training and, unlike surfing, paddle boarding can be done without regard to the tide and condition of waves and swells. Moreover, paddleboarding can be done on rivers and lakes, and is not limited to use on the ocean. It is therefore understandable that paddle boarding is a growing recreational activity at many resorts and vacation destinations.
Paddleboarding is also a great exercise. Paddleboarding conditions not only the arm muscles, but also the back, the abdomen and the legs, which must stay engaged to keep the board from tipping. Paddleboarding also is a low impact activity, unlike running for example.
Paddleboards generally range in length between twelve and eighteen feet and resemble long surfboards. The paddle generally should extend in length to five-to-seven inches above a user's height, and the paddle generally includes a blade, shaft and handle. In particular, the paddle typically includes a flat blade on one end connecting to a handle on the other end by a long shaft. The blade ranges from six to ten inches in width with an oval or round shaft ranging from 67 to 86 inches in length with a one to one-and-a-half inch diameter. Blades can be designed with several shapes and features. Normally the blade has a pizza stone shape sometimes having a slight keel on the back side of the blade. Other commonly used shapes include diamonds, or oar like blades.
In operation, while standing on a board the user holds the paddle with one hand on the top of the handle and the other hand approximately one-third of the way down the shaft. The hand placement alternates depending on the side on which the user paddles. When paddling on the right side the handle is held with the left hand and the shaft with the right, and when paddling on the left side the handle is held with the right hand and the shaft with the left. When paddling the blade is placed in the water about one or two feet in front of the user. The paddle is then pulled through the water with a motion similar to the user punching with the top hand. The motion is continued until the blade is pulled through the water to a point approximately six inches to a foot behind the user's body, thereby performing a backstroke.
While paddleboarding provides a great workout, it is not always possible to paddleboard due to poor weather, due to being in a location at which paddleboarding in not possible (such as away from water), or both. In such situations, it is believed that a need exists for simulating paddleboarding so as to provide some of the aforementioned benefits that come from paddleboarding as an exercise.
With regard to known exercise apparatus, an exercise machine is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0275489 that has a pair of spaced-apart vertical columns each with hollow tubular body with a weighted plunger attached to a cable for vertical reciprocation while a user performs power and return stroke movements on an instrument attached to the other end of the cable. The plunger is hydraulically coupled to an air channel fed by an air-through valve sized to control air movement into the air channel by the rising plunger during a power stroke to approximate water resistance to an oar, paddle or arm in the water. The air channel has a release opening for releasing air balanced against the weight of the falling plunger to approximate lifting an oar, paddle, or arm out of the water on a return stroke. The exercise machine can be used to practice a wide range of water sports training exercises for swimming, paddleboarding, canoe paddling, and rowing.
While the exercise machine disclosed in this patent publication appears to be suitable for its intended purpose, and the disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by reference for background to the present invention, it is believed that improved exercise apparatus and methods nonetheless are needed for simulating paddleboarding. Accordingly, it is believed that one or more of these needs are addressed by one or more aspects of the invention.